Celtic into Champions League play-off round

Celtic's goalless draw against the Swedish champions sees them in Friday's draw for the Champions League play-off round.

The SPL champions went into the Wednesday night second leg with a one goal advantage after Kris Commons's goal at Celtic Park a week earlier.

With Georgios Samaras and Kris Commons in the starting line-up, manager Neil Lennon would have been expecting an away goal to ease the nerves.

An away goal didn't come, however, and the travelling fans were certainly biting their nails as the match drew to a close.

Celtic loanee Mo Bangura started after a hamstring doubt and caused all sorts of problems for the Celtic back four with his strength at set pieces and crosses into the box.

Had the striker scored against his parent club there may have been a very controversial aftermath, but fortunately for Celtic that never came to be.

Solid defensive performances from Mikael Lustig and Kelvin Wilson put a stop to Bangura and despite a large share of possession in the second half, Elfsborg rarely created any clear cut chances.

Celtic would have put the tie to bed in the first half if Samaras had made the most of a clear header at goal, or if Joe Ledley's strike from inside the box hadn't been miraculously saved by home keeper Ellegaard.

Those chances were wasted and the Hoops went into half-time in control, but level on the night.

The second half saw the Swedes dominate more and more without ever testing Fraser Forster in the Celtic goal.

The final whistle eventually came and the Celtic fans can look forward to at least one more European adventure this season.

Awaiting them in the draw on Friday could be any one of Austria Wien, NK Maribor, Ludogorets Razgrad, Shakhtyor Karaganda or the winners of Legia Warsaw or Molde.

Just one more win for the Glasgow side and they will finally have made it to the group stages of the Champions League.

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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